title: [Acute hospitalization for TIA unnecessary].
abstract: Recent findings have externally validated the usefulness of the ABCD2 score in triaging TIA patients with a high risk of early stroke in a multiethnic sample of hospitalized patients. Since this publication some neurologists in the Netherlands and in other countries have suggested that this supports guidelines that endorse the immediate hospitalization of patients with a high risk of TIA. However, no randomized trial has evaluated the benefits of hospitalization or the value of the ABCD2 score in assisting with triage decisions. Current Dutch guidelines on stroke recommend the prescription of medication for secondary prevention immediately after a TIA and a full diagnostic workup within the first few days after TIA onset. In the Dutch setting, a workup in an outpatient TIA clinic is sufficient for starting secondary prevention and selecting patients likely to benefit from carotid surgery. Acute hospitalization is generally not necessary and creates false certainty in preventing a second event.
authors.affiliation: Tergooiziekenhuizen, afd. Neurologie, Blaricum/Hilversum, the Netherlands. jdekruijk@tergooiziekenhuizen.nl
authors.forename: Jelle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Kruijk
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000150:complications* / Q000517:prevention & control; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D014218:Triage